


A late visit

by Unaflor



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Exile, Other, Post-Book 2: The Wicked King, Spoilers for Book 2: The Wicked King
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 16:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17605181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unaflor/pseuds/Unaflor
Summary: Jude opens the door and she finds a prettier, better dressed and less self-assured image of herself. Taryn.





	A late visit

**Author's Note:**

> Well, my second Folk of the air fic. I wasn't trying to write this one. It just came up. I guess I needed this. And I hope you too (:
> 
> Before you keep reading, you need to acknowledge two things:  
> 1\. The author owns everything you know, nothing is mine.  
> 2\. SPOILERS FROM THE WICKED KING. Run away from here if you haven't read the book yet!

She comes one night after what Jude feels it has been decades but were merely six months.

Usually, it's Vivi who opens the door, because Oak is not allowed to do so and Jude can't be bothered. Also because, Vivi is still waiting for Heather to come back and even if she doesn't say anything and tries to  hide it, Jude knows every bell ringing makes her miss a heartbeat.

This time, though, with Vivi in the shower and the bell ringing and ringing, Jude has to go and take care of it herself. Oak follows her trotting to her side and she pushes him slightly back when she opens the door. On the other side she can see a prettier, better dressed and less self-assured image of herself. Taryn.

Oaks jumps with his arms wide open to hug his sister, but Jude misses it because everything she can do is to stare at Taryn in the same way Cardan had stared at her so many times in the past. In a fixed, cold, pure hatred way.

“Can I come in?” she asks, as she walks in without waiting for an answer.

“Oak, why don't you tell Vivi who has come to say hello?” Jude suggests, still holding the door with a hand and trying to keep herself under control. He seems happy enough running to the other side of the house before Jude can even close the door.

By the time Vivi gets there, her hair all wet, her towel barely covering any of her body and barefoot, Taryn is being hold against a wall by Jude.

“I didn't know! He tricked me” Taryn is saying. Yet all Jude can think of is how she has been betrayed again by the same sister she gave a second chance to. The sister she came to the world with, the sister she loves despite it all. The one who didn't care about Jude's feelings because she finally got what she wanted.

“It seems you get tricked too easily” she replies. Thinking about it makes her angry.

Her fist moves alone. For so many nights, just before falling asleep, Jude has fantasized about what she’d do to all of those who hurt her: Taryn, Cardan. Madoc. Now her body is acting on its own, taking that away from her at the same time it's giving it to her.

Taryn closes her eyes before Jude's fist hits her face and Vivi shouts behind her back, getting between them as fast as she can. It's already late. For Taryn, at least. As far as Jude is concerned, that was just the beginning.

It takes Taryn a long time to convince Oak to go to bed and Vivi to leave them alone, promising her everything is going to be fine even though the three of them know that's something she can't guarantee. Jude is not even sure she's interested in having a conversation with Taryn, but she is not asked about her opinion.

“I came to say I'm sorry” she says, playing with her fingers in the same way she used to when they were first taken to Fairy and the image of Madoc murdering their parents was still too present in their lives. Her cheek is now very red and even though Jude can't stop looking at it, she doesn't feel sorry.

“Save it. Apologies not accepted. Now you can go back” snaps Jude. She hopes Taryn walks away soon, so she can slam all the doors in the house and cry herself to sleep pretending she is doing something else. All of a sudden she fancies burning everything in her room. It seemed to work for Cardan. “Cheat me once, shame on you. Cheat me twice…” Jude doesn't bother finishing what she's saying, just shrugs her shoulders. She's not sure her indifference is convincing enough. Taryn presses her lips together and looks away from her twin, in the direction they both know Vivi is hidden listening to it all.

“Maybe we deserve each other” says Taryn. She sounds as if she was scared of being brave and Jude feels she could punch her sister again. Something in what Taryn just said stings on the back of Jude's eyes and she has to shut them closed. In the time she remains silent, all she can think about is that if Taryn is right and she deserves someone that resembles what she is, then she deserves Cardan. For everything he has ever done, every cruelty, every treason, every time he got unfairly saved, for each time he deceived her and everyone else, Cardan is more a mirror of her own image than Taryn had ever been, even when it’s her twin who looks physically like her.

If nothing else, Taryn deserves Madoc, who does what he does despite his family and not because of it. And Jude, all pain emerging from who knows where, liquid and burning hot, knows she will give Taryn what she would give Madoc. When she smiles at her sister, she does look like Cardan: dangerous, cold and cruel in all her beauty. 

“Get the hell out and don't come back”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! If you did (and even if you didn't) I would like to know it! Feel free to leave a comment!


End file.
